I received an email from my dive instructor on Tuesday this last week, telling me, and others, that he was ready to finish our certification dives on Saturday. This gave me four days to stress about it. Luckily, I'm good at denial, and I waited until Friday to begin panicking.
Great news when I arrived at the marina on Saturday morning- we had the opportunity to dive off a boat at a discounted price. If you read my last blog about the troubles I had getting in and out of the water, you might understand why I practically jumped at the chance to go! Yay! One worry to cross off my list.
I still had problems putting water in my mask. I really think it's worse than actually removing and replacing my mask, but I don't know why. I managed all of my skills, and I am an offical Open Water Certified Diver. I may not have conquered my fears, but I have at least faced them, and not let them stop me from achieving my goal.
Jason asked me to blog about my dive, because "you saw cool things and you got to do a boat dive." He is jealous. I owe him a boat dive. We did go to a really cool place for our two certification dives. It's called the Pinnacles, and there were tons of beautiful fish in so many colors. We also saw a giant clam, which is really about the size of a football, and it was a beautiful color of purple inside, some different choral formations, clown fish guarding their anemones, just tons of life down there. And it was soooo easy getting in and out. My only problem was that for some reason, I started to get really sick between dives. I could tell when I got out of the water that I needed to get some food, because I was really shaky. Then after I got the food in me, I wasn't sure I was going to keep it down. I hadn't had a problem with the rocking of the boat up to that point, so I think the wet suit had me too hot. Once I cooled down, I was fine.
The next bonus of the day was a third trip out for FREE! Who could pass that up? Luckily, my hubby let me go. This was the best dive so far. Why? Because I didn't have to put water in my mask or remove it or anything! By then, I was official, and I could just go on a recreational dive. For that dive we went to Navel Kadena 1 and saw tons of cool little fish. We saw a tiny baby anemone fish inside a hole in the choral. Some of the other sightings that I noted in my log book were an Orangutan Crab that was inside bubble choral (my instructor was interested in the crab, I thought the choral was way cool), Egg Shell Conery (which looked just like black velvet with silver glitter spots), and an Indian Cushion Sea Star (looked like a big rock with colorful moss on the top, but on the bottom it had the lines like a star fish) with a little shrimp darting around it. I had a blast. Man, if I could dive off a boat everytime, I'm sure I could love this sport. Too bad Jason isn't rich, yet.
So, what does this mean for the future? Am I going to be a diver? Well, here's my plan: I'm hoping to have to opportunity to go out on a good day, to see if I still have problems getting in and out of the water. I had a sister in my branch tell me that she, too, struggled at the place that I went to last time, so maybe that just isn't the place for me. Second, in typical Jennifer-fashion, I'm going to sign up for some more classes- actually they call them Adventure Dives. I'm going to do a Peak Bouyancy class and I'm going to do a fish identification course. I think I just need more exposure, and I'm not sure that I feel comfortable doing it without a professional, just yet.
As far as the rest of the family is concerned, this week was a big week for new activities. Jessica started gymnastics on Tuesday, and she had a blast. Cassie and Jason started guitar lessons on Thursday, as well, and Cassie is working on 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'. Jason and some coworkers have started their own regular dive night on Wednesday nights, and he had a cool dive at the Junkyard this week. Carston took his first head over heels tumble down our wood stairs on Saturday. I knew it would happen sooner or later. He's fine. It hasn't even made him CAUTIOUS around the stairs. Last night, Jason found a gecko on our house. I don't know how it got in, let alone up the stairs. He caught it, and released it on the front porch. We're hoping it eats spiders and decides to stick around. It's quite a smorgsbord out there. I think that's pretty much it- business as usual. Cassie has two more weeks of school, and then, hopefully, we can find some fun activities for the summer.
Here's a picture of the gecko hanging out on our front porch Monday morning. In the house, it was white, to match the walls.
Great news when I arrived at the marina on Saturday morning- we had the opportunity to dive off a boat at a discounted price. If you read my last blog about the troubles I had getting in and out of the water, you might understand why I practically jumped at the chance to go! Yay! One worry to cross off my list.
I still had problems putting water in my mask. I really think it's worse than actually removing and replacing my mask, but I don't know why. I managed all of my skills, and I am an offical Open Water Certified Diver. I may not have conquered my fears, but I have at least faced them, and not let them stop me from achieving my goal.
Jason asked me to blog about my dive, because "you saw cool things and you got to do a boat dive." He is jealous. I owe him a boat dive. We did go to a really cool place for our two certification dives. It's called the Pinnacles, and there were tons of beautiful fish in so many colors. We also saw a giant clam, which is really about the size of a football, and it was a beautiful color of purple inside, some different choral formations, clown fish guarding their anemones, just tons of life down there. And it was soooo easy getting in and out. My only problem was that for some reason, I started to get really sick between dives. I could tell when I got out of the water that I needed to get some food, because I was really shaky. Then after I got the food in me, I wasn't sure I was going to keep it down. I hadn't had a problem with the rocking of the boat up to that point, so I think the wet suit had me too hot. Once I cooled down, I was fine.
The next bonus of the day was a third trip out for FREE! Who could pass that up? Luckily, my hubby let me go. This was the best dive so far. Why? Because I didn't have to put water in my mask or remove it or anything! By then, I was official, and I could just go on a recreational dive. For that dive we went to Navel Kadena 1 and saw tons of cool little fish. We saw a tiny baby anemone fish inside a hole in the choral. Some of the other sightings that I noted in my log book were an Orangutan Crab that was inside bubble choral (my instructor was interested in the crab, I thought the choral was way cool), Egg Shell Conery (which looked just like black velvet with silver glitter spots), and an Indian Cushion Sea Star (looked like a big rock with colorful moss on the top, but on the bottom it had the lines like a star fish) with a little shrimp darting around it. I had a blast. Man, if I could dive off a boat everytime, I'm sure I could love this sport. Too bad Jason isn't rich, yet.
So, what does this mean for the future? Am I going to be a diver? Well, here's my plan: I'm hoping to have to opportunity to go out on a good day, to see if I still have problems getting in and out of the water. I had a sister in my branch tell me that she, too, struggled at the place that I went to last time, so maybe that just isn't the place for me. Second, in typical Jennifer-fashion, I'm going to sign up for some more classes- actually they call them Adventure Dives. I'm going to do a Peak Bouyancy class and I'm going to do a fish identification course. I think I just need more exposure, and I'm not sure that I feel comfortable doing it without a professional, just yet.
As far as the rest of the family is concerned, this week was a big week for new activities. Jessica started gymnastics on Tuesday, and she had a blast. Cassie and Jason started guitar lessons on Thursday, as well, and Cassie is working on 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'. Jason and some coworkers have started their own regular dive night on Wednesday nights, and he had a cool dive at the Junkyard this week. Carston took his first head over heels tumble down our wood stairs on Saturday. I knew it would happen sooner or later. He's fine. It hasn't even made him CAUTIOUS around the stairs. Last night, Jason found a gecko on our house. I don't know how it got in, let alone up the stairs. He caught it, and released it on the front porch. We're hoping it eats spiders and decides to stick around. It's quite a smorgsbord out there. I think that's pretty much it- business as usual. Cassie has two more weeks of school, and then, hopefully, we can find some fun activities for the summer.
Can I just tell you how jealous I am that you're a certified diver!!! How fun! I'm glad that you enjoyed it. Tell Cassie that I can come jam Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with her on my violin :). I love you!
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